Simple Shapes
by SeaSaltSkye
Summary: Axel decides to let a tattoo artist with little to no experience tattoo his face. AkuRoku Fluff. A OneShot.


**Request done for KingdomHearts-Addict uvu. She wanted an Axel falling in love with a tattoo artist Roxas.  
Enjoy!  
*****

Axel was picky.

This redhead was extremely stubborn when it came to the ink that touched his skin. Of course, he was no virgin when it came to an artist's needle marking him; he just preferred it when said artist met some very specific standards.

Call him crazy – Demyx certainly did – but Axel liked having a thorough once-over with his soon-to-be artists. That meant inspecting the artist, the parlor, and the artist's history.

One fuck up in the past meant Axel would be off looking for a new artist.

He was content with the art on his body, but the man was always searching for more. A better artist could be found – he had no doubt about this.

So when he walked through the doors of a particularly new tattoo parlor, he found himself surprised at the choices he was considering.

The place was sanitary of course; it didn't seem like it had been opened long enough to even have enough customers track dirt over the tiles. Art was strewn along the walls, the owner of the tattoo parlor of course, who was apparently very talented with a pallet of acrylic paint and a couple of paintbrushes.

Cleanliness? Check. Talent? Oh, yes.

However, he still wanted to see this "Zexion's" past work and do a bit of interrogating.

"You're the owner?" Axel pranced right up to the counter where a man of dull-blue hair was sitting with his arms crossed, a thin sketch book open on his lap.

One bright aqua eye – much brighter than his hair color – glanced up at the potential customer.

"I am." Zexion nodded, shutting the sketchbook and offering a hand out to the redhead.

"You do customs?" Axel questioned as he shook the petite man's hand.

"Usually, yes. We do custom tattoos here." Zexion spoke softly as he answered Axel's questions. He found Axel's straightforwardness to be a bit overwhelming in the quiet sitting room.

The shorter man reached under the counter and pulled out a thick photo album.

"You can look through this," He insisted as he pushed it towards the redhead. "Or I have some sketched in the back if you want."

Axel flipped through the photo album, finding it filled with past photographs of tattoos only Zexion had done. For someone so young, he had quite a bit of experience up his sleeve.

"Are there any other artists working here?" Axel asked as he handed the album back to the artist. "It's just, I don't see any other artist's work around here." He added quickly when he realized he could be perceived as rude.

He didn't need to piss off a potential artist. Especially not an artist as skilled as Zexion.

"I can't say he's an artist yet, but I've got my assistant in the back."

Perhaps it was the fact that Axel still had time to kill before Demyx arrived. Perhaps he was just curious.

So Axel said,

"Sure, let's see what the kid's got."

Which led to Zexion calling his assistant out from the room behind the counter.

For a moment, talent or experience didn't mean a thing to Axel. For a moment, Axel wanted Zexion's assistant to be the only one to ever mark his skin with ink again.

However it was only for a moment.

"This is my assistant, Roxas."

This young man was a piece of art, Axel thought.

The blonde would have looked angelic with his deep blue eyes and curious pout if it weren't for the ring that pinched the side of his bottom lip and eyebrow.

He was perfect.

"Hey." Roxas nodded his head in Axel's direction.

"He hasn't done any tattoos, just piercings, but I can let you look through some of his sketches." Zexion offered.

Axel tried not to look too eager as he nodded his head and accepted the stack of thin sketch books. Page after page, he flipped through the books. Roxas was good, no doubt, but he was no Zexion.

"I'll give the guy a chance." Axel said suddenly, surprising himself as well as the more experienced artist in the room.

"Really?" The blonde's pout grew to a wide grin.

Oh, how Axel wished he could see that grin every day.

So, in spite of his own strict rules when it came to picking an artist and his lack of information about the tattoo parlor, Axel found himself nodding.

"Sure. We'll do something simple." Axel smiled.

"Awesome!"

Perhaps there was some sort of sense of pride knowing he would be Roxas' first ever canvas. Maybe Axel just wanted to be near the guy.

"What'd you have in mind?" Roxas leaned against the counter, his sketchbook flipped to a fresh page, and a sharpened pencil grasped in his right hand.

"Nothing you'd need to sketch out, really." Axel chuckled at the assistant's eagerness.

There had been something really simple he had been planning on getting done but never really got around to doing it. It would definitely be of no challenge to Roxas.

"Think you can put a pair of diamonds under my eyes?"

Roxas' eyes went wide for a moment.

"You want me to tattoo your face?"

"Yeah, why not?" Axel shrugged. "I'm sure you'll be able to handle two little shapes." He teased as the assistant went red.

"R-right." Roxas nodded. "Well, follow me then." He opened the red curtain to the room in the back where all the equipment was set.

This next room consisted of two rows of plush black chairs, two in each. The wall to the right, obviously Zexion's section, was covered in rough sketches of tattoos Axel had seen in the album. It was by far one of the smallest rooms he had ever been in when getting a tattoo.

Roxas led Axel to the section on the left and urged the tall redhead to take a seat. While Axel got comfortable, Roxas readied his equipment the way he had seen Zexion do many times before.

The look of concentration on the blonde's face was adorable, Axel thought.

"Zex?" Roxas called out as he inspected the machine in his hands. "Did I do this right?"

Moments later, the owner walked through and pulled up a stool next to the soon-to-be artist. He took the machine and held it up to his face for a closer inspection. When it hummed to life, he smiled and handed it back to his assistant.

"Just like I showed you." Zexion smiled with a nod.

"Sweet, alright uh," Roxas put his machine down on the counter and looked Axel over. Uncapping a thin marker, he slid himself closer to the redhead. "How long should they be?" A blue gloved hand held a mirror up to Axel's face.

After Roxas had dotted the placement of each point, the mirror was held up for Axel again.

"Narrower." He insisted.

"Right, uh." Roxas leaned in again.

When the lines were deemed worthy, Roxas capped the marker and made sure to clean his needle and Axel's cheeks.

Tattoo needle buzzing, Roxas leaned in when the door of the parlor jingled open.

"Anyone home?" The newcomer called out.

Axel recognized the voice to be Demyx's – his support for whenever he got some new ink – who was apparently late.

Zexion got up to greet the newcomer.

"Alright, well, I'm going to…" Roxas pressed the needle to Axel's cheek bone.

There was a slight sting but that wasn't what Axel was focusing on.

Green eyes were fixed on the blonde's face, his lips pinched into a straight line as he dragged the needle along the redhead's skin. Deep blue eyes zoned in on that one section of Axel's face.

Axel thought Roxas was adorable.

"First time handling the needle?" Axel questioned. He was trying not to move so much, he didn't want to disturb Roxas, but how could he pass up talking to someone so attractive?

Roxas' face was so close to Axel's, if Axel reached up just a bit they would be nose to nose.

"Zexion lets me handle piercings. The shop hasn't gotten many customers looking for tattoos, being new and all. Zex usually handles those. He showed me how to work the machine though."

"So, I can proudly say I'm your first?" The redhead teased with a smirk, an eyebrow arched suggestively.

Roxas looked surprised as he took the needle away from skin and looked down at Axel, blue finally meeting green.

"Yeah, you're my first." Roxas laughed as he raised a pierced brow at the grinning redhead. Metal met flesh on the other side of the redhead's face. "Doesn't that hurt?"

Axel had been leaning back in the plush black chair, arms resting behind his head as he watched Roxas work.

"Nah. Got used to it, I guess." Of course, Roxas wouldn't have known that with the sleeves of Axel's shirts covering his arms and his jeans covering his legs.

"How many tattoos do you have then?" Roxas asked, his face still an adorable display of concentration.

"Can't really say, to be honest. There's a lot though." Axel confessed. He was trying not to focus too hard on Roxas' other hand that was gently cupping his face.

"What about you? Any tattoos?" It was Axel's turn to ask a question.

"Nope, only piercings. I'll get around to asking Zex for one eventually." Roxas set the needle that had gone still on the counter. He stretched his arms high above his head and sighed, giving Axel a wonderful eyeful of a pierced little bellybutton as Roxas' shirt rode up. "Speaking of, that customer out there really seems to be talking Zex's ears off."

"Heh, that would be Demyx." Who was late.

Axel and Demyx had been planning on going artist hunting but obviously that was no longer the plan. Axel's sore cheek bones confirmed this.

"They seem to be hitting it off fine." Roxas commented with a smile as he swept a cool cloth across Axel's cheeks, soothing some of the sting.

"That's Dem for ya."

Roxas handed Axel a mirror and stripped off his gloves.

"These are great," Axel grinned at his reflection then over at the blonde who instantly flushed red. "They're perfect."

The two diamonds under his eyes were no bigger than the tip of his index finger to the joint. The skin around it was pink and tender but nothing he couldn't ignore until it calmed down.

"Yeah, just two little shapes." Roxas mumbled in reminder. "Probably nothing compared to the rest of your tattoos."

"Heh, would you like to see?" Axel questioned with a tilt of his head.

"You'd show me? Here?" Roxas perked up.

"Well, I'm not really interested in stripping down here, but if you're not busy sometime…" He trailed off.

"Y-yeah! Sure. Here, um," Roxas pulled out a business card with the shop's name printed out on it and scribbled down a phone number. "I just moved out here with Zex when he opened up his own shop so, uh, if you want to hang out sometime? Show me around?" He handed the card to Axel.

"I'll be sure to call you." Axel nodded as he followed Roxas out of the room.

The two were met with Demyx aimlessly chatting on and on about something Roxas and Axel couldn't quite catch on to. To Roxas' surprise, Zexion, who wasn't usually tolerant of many people, seemed interested in what the animated blonde had to say.

"Axel!" The taller blonde in the room turned his attention and gasped as he took in the new ink on his friend's face. "You didn't wait for me." He pouted.

"Maybe if you came on time." The redhead rolled his eyes. "I didn't want to keep Roxas here waiting."

"I really wouldn't have minded." Roxas laughed at the gaping blonde.

"Your friend here was Roxas' first." Zexion told Demyx as he looked at his assistant with something akin to pride. "How'd you think he did?"

"I think you did awesome!" Demyx gave Roxas a wide grin, who then turned bright red for the umpteenth time that day.

Demyx wanted to reach out and touch the diamonds, as he was always tempted to do with Axel's new tattoos. He didn't of course. He wouldn't unless he wanted his fingers chopped off.

"We'd better be off." Axel announced after he paid for his new body art, leaving a bit of a nice tip for the artist. He wanted to get out of there before Demyx jumped into another one-sided conversation with the quiet owner and ended up over staying their welcome.

"I'll be seeing you." Axel pressed his lips to the blonde artist's cheek for a split second, earning a surprised look from Zexion and Demyx.

He winked at Roxas and flashed the business card that held the cellphone number.

Axel and Demyx left the fairly new tattoo parlor that was owned by a confused Zexion and its newest artist – a blushing blonde by the name of Roxas.


End file.
